Why do we search for campaign contributions from the 2006 and 2008 cycles, and how was the $20,000 figure chosen?
The 2006 election cycle was the last full cycle for which data is available, so we decided to include it along with data from the current election cycle. We also chose to set a floor for contributions of $20,000 so that recipients that had one or two employees who’d made $250 contributions wouldn’t be included. It seemed to us that, while still a low number (especially if the earmark recipient is a large organization), $20,000 is a significant contribution (twice the maximum amount that a Political Action Committee can give to a campaign during a single election cycle).
